--- title: "Psalms 17 - Study King James Bible with barnes notes on the whole bible" description: "Read Psalms 17 with barnes notes on the whole bible commentary. 1 Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. 2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence;" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/17" --- [ Read](/kjv/psalms/17)[ Commentary](/study/psalms/17)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/psalms/17) Audio 1 Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, *that goeth* not out of feigned lips.** 2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. 3 Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited *me* in the night; thou hast tried me, *and* shalt find nothing; I am purposed *that* my mouth shall not transgress. 4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept *me from* the paths of the destroyer. 5 Hold up my goings in thy paths, *that* my footsteps slip not.* 6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, *and hear* my speech. 7 Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust *in thee* from those that rise up *against them*.* 8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, 9 From the wicked that oppress me, *from* my deadly enemies, *who* compass me about.** 10 They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly. 11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth; 12 Like as a lion *that* is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.** 13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, *which is* thy sword:** 14 From men *which are* thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, *which have* their portion in *this* life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid *treasure:* they are full of children, and leave the rest of their *substance* to their babes.** 15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. [Psalms 16](/study/psalms/16) [Psalms 18](/study/psalms/18) ## Commentary To verse 1 **Hear the right -**Margin, as in Hebrew, “justice.” The prayer is, that God would regard that which was “right” in the case, or that he would vindicate the psalmist from that which was wrong. It is the expression of his confident assurance even in the presence of God that his cause was right, and that he was asking only that which it would be consistent for a “just” God to do. We can offer an acceptable prayer only when we are sure that it would be right for God to answer it, or that it would be consistent with perfect and eternal justice to grant our requests. It is to be observed here, however, that the ground of the petition of the psalmist is not that “he” was righteous, that is, he did not base his petition on the ground of his own merits, but that his “cause” was righteous; that he was unjustly oppressed and persecuted by his enemies. We cannot ask God to interpose in our behalf because we have a claim to his favor on the ground of our own merit; we may ask him to interpose because wrong is done, and his glory will be promoted in securing that which is just and right. **Attend unto my cry -**The word used here - רנה *rinnâh* - means either a shout of joy, [Psalms 30:5](/kjv/psalms/30/5); [Psalms 42:4](/kjv/psalms/42/4); [Psalms 47:1](/kjv/psalms/47/1); or a mournful cry, outcry, wailing, [Psalms 61:1](/kjv/psalms/61/1); et soepe. It is expressive, in either case, of deep feeling which vents itself in an audible manner. Here it denotes the earnest “utterance” of prayer. **Give ear unto my prayer -**See the notes at [Psalms 5:1](/kjv/psalms/5/1). **That goeth not out of feigned lips -**Margin, as in Hebrew, “without lips of deceit.” That is, that is sincere, or that proceeds from the heart. The utterance of the lips does not misrepresent the feelings of the heart. True prayer is that in which the lips “do” represent the real feelings of the soul. In hypocritical prayer the one is no proper representation of the other. It is evident that the prayer here was not mere mental prayer, or a mere desire of the heart. It was uttered prayer, or oral prayer; and, though private, it was in the form of uttered words. The feeling was so great that it was expressed in an audible cry to God. Deep emotion usually finds vent in such audible and fervent expressions. Compare the Saviour’s earnest prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, [Luke 22:41](/kjv/luke/22/41) ff. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/17#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/17#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/17","name":"Psalms 17 - Study King James Bible with barnes notes on the whole bible","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/17#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Psalms 17 with barnes notes on the whole bible commentary. 1 Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. 2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence;","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/17#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/17"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/17#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible","name":"barnes notes on the whole bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms","name":"Psalms"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/17","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/psalms/17","name":"17"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```